COURT HOUSE – Finishing high school and taking the next step in life is difficult.
For some, funding advanced education or training is even harder.
So the Cape May County Educational Foundation, a sister organization to the county Chamber of Commerce, is increasing its effort to make education more affordable for some county residents.
Attorney Michael Donohue, president of the foundation and also CapeGOP’s leader, announced at the March chamber membership lunch that the Educational Foundation is expanding and will offer scholarship opportunities not only for college but also for students going into the trades.
Donohue, in a phone interview following the chamber lunch, said he felt the Educational Foundation was doing great work, but after chamber President Barbara Jones asked him to be president of the foundation, he started to consider how much more it could do, including developing an endowment.
“My goal, and job, is to put a network of fundraising together,” he said.
Donohue said he wants to find a few good people to form an endowment committee so the foundation is not handing out all the money it takes in during a given fundraising cycle.
Jones said that, the between donations and fundraising activities, the foundation has been able to award about $17,000 a year to eligible students. Donahue said he wants to get the foundation to a point where it is not sending out the money it acquires.
“I want to develop a reserve,” he said, “and we would then expand (the scholarships) to include the trades: welding, electricians, etc.”
Donohue said he spoke to friends in the trades who told him students generally have to pay for their for their own tools, equipment and clothing. He said apprenticeships are often paid for, but students have to buy tools.
He also would like to see the Educational Foundation’s support for college students carry over from year to year.
“Another thing is to follow students though four years of college,” he said. “Now, we give money and say, ‘Here you go,’ and that’s it.”
Jones said the foundation offers three sets of scholarships: the Post-Secondary Education Scholarships, for residents of Cape May County attending a post-secondary program; the Dual & Concurrent Credit Programs, for students in Cape May County who are either employed in the business of a chamber member or whose parents or guardians are employed by, or own a business that is a member of the chamber, and the Graduating High School Senior College and Trade School Scholarships, for students in Cape May County who themselves, or whose parents or guardians, are employed by or own a business that is a member of the chamber.
Jones said the foundation also gives a $1,000 donation to Atlantic Cape Community College, and the school determines to whom it will be awarded. She said the foundation is currently reviewing scholarship applications.
Donohue said it would be great to have a couple of students from Cape May County whom the foundation could follow through four years of college. He said he would like to be able to offer that kind of support in a year, or even less. He said the endowment committee would be meeting in a few weeks.
“I am excited to do this. It’s a new direction for the foundation,” he said.
Donohue said although the foundation has done well in the past, he believes it’s time to take its efforts to another level. Currently, the Education Foundation holds several fundraisers over the course of the year, including a Gospel Brunch, held Feb. 23, and the “Fore” Education Golf Tournament, scheduled for June 30.
Jones said she believes that with the foundation under Donohue’s leadership it will achieve the goals he outlined. “Which would be brilliant,” she said.
She said students supported by the foundation might be inclined to return to Cape May County after they graduate.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
